Rhizomatic Learning and Adapting: a Case Study Exploring an Interprofessional Team's Lived Experiences
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Antioch University AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses Dissertations & Theses 2017 Rhizomatic Learning and Adapting: A Case Study Exploring an Interprofessional Team's Lived Experiences Renee Charney Antioch University - PhD Program in Leadership and Change Follow this and additional works at: https://aura.antioch.edu/etds Part of the Education Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, and the Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons Recommended Citation Charney, R. (2017). Rhizomatic Learning and Adapting: A Case Study Exploring an Interprofessional Team's Lived Experiences. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/382 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses at AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations & Theses by an authorized administrator of AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Rhizomatic Learning and Adapting: A Case Study Exploring an Interprofessional Team’s Lived Experiences Renee Charney ORCID Scholar ID# 0000-0003-1661-1861 A Dissertation Submitted to the PhD in Leadership and Change Program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September, 2017 This dissertation has been approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Leadership and Change, Graduate School of Leadership and Change, Antioch University Dissertation Committee • Elizabeth Holloway, Ph.D., Committee Chair • Laura Morgan Roberts, Ph.D., Committee Member • Mary Ann Reilly, Ed.D., Committee Member Copyright 2017 Renee Charney All rights reserved Acknowledgements This journey would not have been possible without the love, guidance, and support of many. For this, and so much more, I am both humbled and grateful. I could not have even begun this journey without the guidance, strength, and curiosity of my chair, Elizabeth Holloway who, when I first approached her about my interest in the intersection of rhizome theory with learning in organizations, was immediately engaged. Her interest in gardening and her understanding of root systems gave us a foundation from which to start and continue through to the end. Her unwavering support throughout the entire dissertation process was a source of great strength and care. Thank you for everything. Thank you to my committee, beginning with Laura Morgan Roberts whose laser-focused questions and feedback helped me think more deeply and nourished my scholarly growth. I also owe a great debt to Mary Ann Reilly, friend, confidant, and expert in rhizomatic learning. If not for her deep knowledge of rhizome theory and rhizomatic learning, her far-reaching impact within and beyond the rhizomatic learning community, and her keen capacity to connect deeply with what I yearned to develop, this study would not have come to fruition. To my PhDLC advisors, Al Guskin (during my first year) and Lize Booysen, thank you for your patience and interest as I unpacked my thoughts about rhizomatic learning in organizations. Your early and ongoing support and guidance helped me see through the fog that often arose, and step around the cracks and crevices on the path toward candidacy. Thank you to the PhDLC faculty who all influenced my thinking and development while in the program, and who exposed me to ways of being that were both new and less practiced. Your teaching, facilitation of conversations, humor, grace, and deep commitment to our growth as students and to the world of social justice propels us all forward. Thank you. i These years throughout the program would not have been possible without the love, care, camaraderie, and patience of the best PhDLC cohort, that of C12. We weathered storms and celebrated victories. We learned about each other and held each other high when needed. We cried, laughed, stepped outside our comfort zone, and tried on new practices. Thank you, especially, to my closest allies, confidantes, and all-around supportive cohort buds: Audy, Lisa, Katie, Holly, Meridithe, Heidi, Mona, and Diane. Our quality hours of holding each other up by phone, screen, and in-person are immeasurable. And, thank you for teaching me the card game that shall go unnamed (you know who you are). Thank you to my editor, Norman Dale, whose email notes at all times of the day and night gave me hope and the courage to keep going. I appreciate your keen eye and clear guidance. To my study participants, I cannot fully express how grateful I am for your willingness to open yourselves, fully and vulnerably, to share your most poignant and intimate stories. Your lives, how you learn and adapt, and the ways you have become other through your experiences are what make this study so very human. Your contributions will pave the way for future learning and adapting. To my family and friends: Chris, my son; Katie, my daughter-in-law; my mother Rene; long-time, dear friend, Rosanne; Rob (Mary Ann’s husband); and my many New Hampshire friends. Thank you for your love, care, interest, and patience while listening to me and cheering me on along the way. Your check-ins and questions lifted me, and your understanding when I needed to say “no” to gatherings and events have not gone unnoticed. Good news: I’m back. To Michael, my dearest ally, best friend, husband, home-based editor, and all-around lifter of spirits, no words can express how very grateful I am for you: who you are, what you ii bring, and your uncanny way of making me laugh at the darkest of times. I love you fully. All this would not have been accomplished without your support. You held the door wide open when I declared this degree as my dream and never wavered. Dedication To Michael Drew Charney for your unwavering love, patience, and humor. iii Abstract The purpose of this theoretical case study was to explore the lived experiences of members within an inter-professional team about how they learn and adapt while dedicating their lives toward the well-being of students residing in and attending a rehabilitation home school. Although there is broad literature that addresses legacy learning theories and frameworks, as well as complex-adaptive organizations, very little shows how the application of rhizome philosophy principles address learning and adapting within an organizational context. This study is a step toward addressing that gap. Using interviews, thematic analysis, and storyline networking, the study explored in depth the lived experiences of 16 administrative, therapy, and educational staff who worked at the school. By using organizational storytelling as a means to unearth and analyze the team members’ 194 stories, a rich web of connection and awareness emerged. Their stories demonstrated new ways of being, learning, and adapting both within and outside the school, and revealed alignment with rhizome philosophy principles of connection, multiplicity, heterogeneity, a signifying rupture(s), and cartography, as well as alignment with legacy and traditional learning theories and frameworks, thereby offering a new lens of learning within organizations called, Rhizomatic Learning in Organizations (RLO). This study is an opportunity to expand and enhance ways of considering learning and adapting within organizations by introducing and supporting rhizomatic behaviors and principles within collectives as they work together. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and Ohiolink ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ Keywords: rhizomatic learning, rhizomatic learning in organizations, rhizome theory, learning, adapting, learning in organizations, nomadic learning, unlearning, organizational storytelling iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... i Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................v List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix Chapter I: Introduction .....................................................................................................................1 Learning in Organizations ..........................................................................................................1 Purpose of Study and Research Question ..................................................................................3 Limitations of Current Learning in Organizations .....................................................................5 Proposed New Framework for Learning in Organizations ........................................................6 Origins of Rhizomatic Learning in Organizations (RLO) .........................................................8 Overview of